The stripers are here. Everyone is finding them; that is, if they can get out to fish. Roller coaster weather patterns have really made it difficult to plan a trip. Unseasonably warm then another Nor’easter. That’s what makes fall fishing such a great challenge.
Sterling Harbor reports stripers, stripers, stripers. Striped bass are being caught in the Delaware Bay near Tussey Slough, 60-Foot Slough, and 20-Foot Slough while chunking with bunker, in the Cape May Rips with eels and spot, and in the back bays while using plugs, bunker, or clam.
Very few reports were received about sea bass probably due to the weather. Nice size tog are being caught around the jetties and inshore wrecks with green crab, but there is a one fish per person limit until Nov. 16 when the bag limit increases to six per person.
In Wildwood’s surf, striped bass are being caught on plugs or clam bait. Lee Rogers, of Wildwood, had several stripers this week from the North Wildwood beach. The largest was 35-inches.
Captain Fred at Harbor View reports plenty of stripers up to 35-pounds being caught on the chunk in the bay. Lower 60-Foot Slough and Bayshore Channel have also been producing. Some fish have been caught in the rips on eels and spots. The inlet and back-bays also have plenty of fish but the majority are short.
Sea bass can be caught on the 100 to 120 foot deep wrecks, blackfish are still on the Cape May jetties and croakers are at Bug Light, the Ferris Wheel and Hereford Inlet.
Miss Chris, Cape May, reports stripers daily in the morning. Fish around 25-pounds. Luke Morris, Philadelphia, caught one at 24.5-pounds and Rick Landrous had a nice one at 24-pounds.
Miss Chris will be sailing on Thanksgiving Day for stripers leaving at 6 a.m. and returning at noon so everyone is home in time for turkey dinner.
Ron Flemming, Cape May Bait and Tackle reports hard blowing winds made a mess of fishing for part of this week, but the days the weather allowed, guys got out and caught fish. Alexander Avenue jetty produced two keeper stripers for Joe Weber and his friend.
Lots of short stripers were being caught from Poverty Beach to Cape May Point and to Higbee Beach jetty. Rich Orth caught and released three stripers at Cape May Point, and another four at Poverty Beach. He also caught a 20-inch puppy drum.
The funny thing about Rich’s outing is that he was using fresh clam and wrapping dead stinky bloodworms around it for bait. According to Rich, he was getting steady bites the entire time he was out. Seems that the strangest combinations sometimes work.
Ron says large numbers of ling have invaded the beaches this week, so we can add another bait stealer to the list.
The American Striper Association ran their annual Fall Tournament hosted by South Jersey Marina with 47 boats entered. Many fish were caught and many more were released during the event. Each boat was allowed to weigh in two of their heaviest qualifying fish. The winning boat, Oh Well had real nice fish at 45 and 35 pounds. (see photo)
The charter boat Big Game at SJM, had a great day in the bay and weighed in a 42.8-pound striper. They also reported many releases of qualifying fish. Captain Joe Pritchard even reported a few mystery bites. He took the Levesque group from Connecticut out and set anchor about 8 a.m. Within the hour they had a 34-inch striper and by the end of the trip had boated 20 of them.
This is prime time for striped bass fishing. If you want to share in the excitement and the pleasure of catching these beautiful fish, contact Charlie Langan at South Jersey Marina 884-3800.
Captain Ray says schoolie stripers are providing action for fly and plug anglers. With the water still brown from all the high winds, fishing has been a little slower than it should be for this time of the year. He found the best action around the inlet rocks and in the back bay shallow areas.
Yellow buck tail deceivers and spearing type flies worked well close to the rocks at night. In the back areas crease flies and yellow deceivers on floating lines worked slowly on the outgoing tides during the day.
ALL photos received go online at SeeMyBigFish.com so be sure to send your fish stories and pictures and Be My Guest reporter. Send info to cmiller@cmcherald.com.
Villas – Look what happened on Jan 6 th with Trump, I do not blame’ Michelle Obama for not coming! You cannot trust his allies for it to be a calm day, for her safety she is safer at home.
